“Tell that to the marines!” chuckled the other. “We know what we are doing, all right. You were seen to take the money away from the Yuma bank! He’ll remember about it as soon as the coils get hot, too!”
“Some one lied to you about the transaction at the bank,” Case insisted. “Who said we took the money and bonds away?”
“I wish I had that fool bear back here!” Case’s captor snarled. “I’d burn his teeth out of his head! I shall be lame for a month.”
“Who told you we took the money and bonds away?” persisted the boy.
“Why, an old gentleman who stood close by saw you, and we heard him speaking about it later. He said it wasn’t safe for boys like you to have so much ready money in this wild country, and we agreed with him. So we are going to help you take care of it. You’ll hear that fresh kid inside telling the truth as soon as his feet touch the hot coils.”
“If you brutes burn Clay,” Case declared, “we’ll give up our trip up the river and follow you to the end of the world but we’ll bring you to the gallows! You just remember that!”
“You’ll crow lower when your own feet feel the fire!” laughed the other. “You’re brave, all right, but you’re a fool, too!”
Case threw himself back on the deck and closed his eyes. Every instant he expected to hear Clay’s cries of anguish as the torture began. There seemed to be no help anywhere. Don was as helpless as himself.
All around the boat the night shut down, chill, silent, inscrutable. Far up the stream the lights of a small town shone indistinctly. To the west the peaks of Chimney mountain rose into the starlit sky. From the ocean, a long distance away, a light wind ruffled the water.
Everywhere was peace, and everywhere the great facts of Nature stood in friendly attitude to each other. It was only the human element that was warring! There seemed to be no hope of rescue anywhere!